Minutes of the Committee on the Mütter Museum

Collection

Identifier: CPP 10/007-04

Scope and Contents

The minutes of the Committee on the Mutter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, spanning 1865 to 1990, provide detailed information about the objectives, development, and administration of this renowned medical museum. Interfiled with the minutes of the Committee on the Mutter Museum are minutes, 1973-1990, of the Committee on College Collections. Also present in the collection are annual reports from both committees, curator's reports, and reports to Council.

Included in the minutes of the Committee on the Mutter Museum are lists of accessions and donors; records of expenses for repairs, maintenance, and purchases; financial statements concerning Mutter Trust investments; and reports concerning the selection of the Mutter lecturer. The annual reports of the committee, which are interfiled with the minutes, contain lists of accessions, financial statements, statistics on the number of museum visitors, and information on museum staff and volunteers.

Volume 3 contains material concerning the policies and objectives of the Mutter Museum; also documented in this volume is the formation of the Committee on College Collections in 1935. Beginning in February 1973, minutes of the Committee on College Collections are interfiled with the minutes of the Committee on the Mutter Museum.

The later minutes of the Committee on the Mutter Museum include extensive curator's reports and the reports of various ad hoc subcommittees. Issues addressed in the minutes from the 1970s and 1980s include fundraising, publicity, special projects, exhibits, development plans, and future goals. Present in the minutes from the late 1980s are drafts of an agreement describing the conditions of the proposed transfer of anatomical and pathological specimens from the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology to the Mutter Museum.

The minutes dating from 1923 to 1990 were originally housed in binders. The binders were disbound, but the volume divisions have been preserved in the finding aid.

Dates

1865 - 1990

Creator

College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Committee on the Mütter Museum (Organization)

Biographical / Historical

The Committee on the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia was first appointed in January 1863. It was charged with the general supervision of the anatomical and pathological museum established by the articles of agreement made between the College and Thomas D. Mütter in 1858-1859. The chairman of the committee was to report annually on the condition of the museum and semi-annually on its financial situation and also receive the income from the Mütter Trust and make disbursements to the museum’s curator and the Mütter lecturers. In 1886, the duties of the College’s Committee on Lectures, which chose and supervised the Mütter lecturers, devolved onto the Committee on the Mütter Museum. In 1935, the College formed a Committee on College Collections to care for, exhibit, and loan any objects received by the College which were not covered by the Mütter Trust. The officers of this committee were identical to the officers of the Committee on the Mütter Museum, and the two bodies met consecutively. In 1990, the Committee on the Mütter Museum became inactive, and general oversight of the Mütter Museum was assumed by the College’s Committee on Program.

Extent

12 Volumes

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Custodial History

The minutes of the Committee on the Mutter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 1923-1990, were transferred by Gretchen Worden from the Mutter Museum to the Historical Collections of the Library on 29 August 1991. The minute book, 1865-1922 (Acc. 1991-146) was transferred on 7 November 1991.

The collection was processed and catalogued in 1992.